Are Moving Walkways Helping or Hindering Passenger Flow at Airports?

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    Chicago O’Hare’s psychedelic Sky’s the Limit, a kinetic light sculpture composed of 466 neon tubes and 23,600 square feet of mirrors, gives passengers something to look at while using the moving walkways in Terminal 1. Image: Kristina Velan

    APEX Insight: From John F. Kennedy and Amsterdam Schiphol to Heathrow and Qatar’s Hamad International, millions are being invested in large-scale airport makeovers. Moving walkways are one way to alleviate concerns about navigating sprawling terminals, but research suggests they may not actually be improving passenger flow.

    Moving walkways first graced airports in 1958, but terminal expansions being planned the world over mean they are more important now than ever before. From John F. Kennedy and Amsterdam Schiphol to Heathrow and Qatar’s Hamad International, millions are being invested in large-scale airport makeovers, and with them come passenger concerns about navigating sprawling terminals.

    On the Fast Trek? 

    Among the longest airport treks are Philadelphia International’s 1.5-mile stretch between Gate F39 and A26, and the up to 1.25 miles between Calgary International’s domestic wing and WestJet’s farthest international gate. Both airports offer a shuttle service for travelers reluctant to clock in the steps. Shuttles may have speed on their side, but intermittent frequency and space limitations make them an insufficient solution, says WestJet. The opposite is true for moving walkways, which sacrifice pace for dependability.

    Indeed, moving walkways may not be as swift as shuttles but they can ensure a speedier hike to the gate for passengers – if they maintain their walking pace. According to Seth Young, director of the Center of Aviation Studies at Ohio State University, “Overall, the speed of those on the belt is less than if the belt wasn’t there.”

    Based on empirical data collected at San Francisco and Cleveland Hopkins international airports, Young found that the standard walking speed in an airport is approximately 3 mph, compared to the 2.24 mph travelers tend to take when on the walkway. Combined with the 1.4 mph of the walkway itself, travelers are on average moving at a speed of 3.66 mph – only a minor spurt from the normal speed without the system. Manoj Srinivasan, locomotion researcher at Princeton University, has corroborated these findings with two mathematical models that reveal people decelerate on walkways to reduce their energy consumption. So are moving walkways worth it?

    Reduced Mobility Means Increased Need

    With space becoming a rare commodity, especially at older airports with narrower hallways, walkways may be considered a hindrance. United Airlines has removed the walkways in Concourse C at Chicago O’Hare, “to improve the flow of passengers,” according to Charles Hobart, a spokesperson for United. And Orlando International Airport removed walkways just last year in order to increase seating capacity at gates and provide better access to retail and restaurant offerings on either sides of hallways. Speaking to the Orlando Sentinel, Dave Kozlowski, 71, said, “Walkways are a saving grace for us slow-walking seniors … They help clear the way for real travelers.” They may occupy valuable space and decelerate walking speeds, but, in the age of airport expansion, moving walkways are a boon for travelers with reduced mobility.

    The people-movers may very well benefit everyone once new technologies emerge – the moving walkway has hardly evolved since it was invented over 100 years ago. German engineering company ThyssenKrupp has developed a variable high-speed walkway, called ACCEL, that uses magnetic levitation technology, common in rapid transit trains, to gradually accelerate to a speed of 7.6 mph. Three undisclosed major non-US airports are reportedly interested in the system, with Toronto Pearson International housing an early-generation of the ACCEL product.

    Art On the Go

    Moving walkways open doors for artists, too. Long airport hallways equipped with walkways beg to be bedecked, and such has been the case for decades. On either side of the moving walkway in Salt Lake City’s international terminal, travelers can find photos depicting the four seasons in southern and northern Utah. The tunnel connecting Concourses B and C with A and the McNamara Terminal building in Detroit Metropolitan Airport is a glass-paneled installation that can be appreciated by people riding the walkway that runs beneath the terminal apron. The Light Tunnel, created by Foxfire Glass, features sand-blasted artwork, a near 9,000 feet of LED lighting and an original score by Mills James. But perhaps the most famous example of walkway art is Chicago O’Hare’s psychedelic Sky’s the Limit, a kinetic light sculpture composed of 466 neon tubes and 23,600 square feet of mirrors in Terminal 1. And in the age of camera phones, moving walkways also become makeshift stages for impromptu live-performances-come-viral-videos.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAFeNfFhzhg